It opened as a night school for instruction in "art, science and technology"—in the words of its founder—"especially to working men".[6] Ormond, who was a firm believer in the transformative power of education, also believed the College would be of "great importance and value" to the industrialisation of Melbourne during the late-19th century.[5][6] In 1904, it was incorporated under the Companies Act as a private college.[5]

Between the turn of the 20th century and the 1930s, it expanded over the neighbouring Old Melbourne Gaol and constructed buildings for new art, engineering and radio schools.[5] It also made its first contribution to Australia's war effort through training of returned military personnel from World War I.[5] Following a petition by students, it officially changed its name to the Melbourne Technical College in 1934.[5]

Following a merger with the Phillip Institute of Technology in the north Melbourne metropolitan area,[10] RMIT was made a public university by act of the Victorian Government in 1992—under the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Act 1992.[11] During the 1990s, the University underwent a rapid expansion and amalgamated with a number of nearby colleges and institutes. The Melbourne College of Decoration and Design joined RMIT in 1993 to create a new dedicated designTAFE school,[10] followed by the Melbourne College of Printing and Graphic Arts in 1995.[10]

Also in 1995, the University opened its first radial campus in Bundoora in the outer-north Melbourne metropolitan area.[10] And, in 1999, it acquired the Melbourne Institute of Textiles campus in Brunswick in the inner-north Melbourne metropolitan area—for its design TAFE schools.[10]

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology is a publicuniversity created under the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Act 1992 by the Government of Victoria,[11][15] and currently exists in accordance with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Act 2010.[16]

The University trades under the name "RMIT University" which is a registered business name and trademark.[17][18] It is composed of the academic colleges and schools, research centres and institutes, etc., of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,[19] and is governed by RMIT Council and is managed by the RMIT Chancellery.[20][21]

"RMIT Group" is the business unit of the University and consists of the entities controlled by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,[19][21] including wholly owned subsidiaries such as: the RMIT Foundation and RMIT Training (including RMIT English Worldwide and RMIT Publishing); its international holdings companies: RMIT Spain (trading as RMIT Europe) and RMIT Vietnam; as well other commercial interests and sub-entities.[22]

Five members of the Council are elected via a direct ballot of the staff and students of the University.[27] They consist of three staff members elected to represent the higher education, vocational education and general staff,[28] and two students elected to represent higher education and vocational education students.[29] The remaining members are appointed directly by the Governor-in-Council, or by a vote of the sitting Council members.[30][31] The members appointed to the Council are required to possess a substantial expertise in academic or financial management, vocational education or training experience, and be drawn from beyond the University community.[32][33]

The Council grants power over all academic and administrative affairs of RMIT to the Vice-Chancellor and President—who is the Chief Executive Officer of the University.[35] The Vice-Chancellor and President is "responsible for the conduct of the University's affairs in all matters".[36] The management of RMIT's colleges and portfolios is then delegated by the Vice-Chancellor and President to a team of Deputy and Pro Vice-Chancellors as well as senior executives.[37][38]

The requirements for the conferring of an academic degree of RMIT is determined and approved by the Academic Board.[40] The Board consists of the Chancellery as ex officio members,[41] and up to a further 46 members—of which 34 must be elected by staff and students.[42] Those conferred an academic degree of the University may use the post-nominal letters "RMIT" with the abbreviation of their degree title.[43]

RMIT University is separated into two divisions: the Higher Education Division and Technical and Further Education (TAFE) Division.[44][45] The divisions are responsible for RMIT's 23 academic schools (20 higher education schools including a graduate/professional school and three TAFE schools). The schools are grouped into three academic portfolios which are referred to as colleges.[46][47] The higher education schools offer both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, while the TAFE schools offer vocational certificates and diplomas.

Building 80 (Swanston Academic Building), home to the College of Business

School of Art buildings

Building 3 (Old Kernot Engineering School)

The three academic colleges of RMIT are the College of Business (BUS), College of Design and Social Context (DSC) and College of Science, Engineering and Heath (SEH). In addition to its academic colleges, the University has a dedicated Portfolio of Research and Innovation (R&I). It contains RMIT's four major research institutes as well as a specialist research school.[48] Its colleges and schools also contain a large number of research centres and groups, of which are independent of research portfolio, and focus on their respective academic areas.

RMIT primarily focuses on applied research as well as outcome-related research and consultancy services, and has extensive partnerships with government and industry.[49] It specifically focuses its research in the areas of design, technology, health, globalisation and sustainability.

Its dedicated Portfolio of Research and Innovation operates on a similar scale to its colleges. It contains RMIT's major research institutes in: Design Research, Global Cities Research, Health Innovations Research and Platform Technologies Research. The four institutes operate on the same scale as RMIT's schools. It also contains a specialist research school in order to foster excellence in research methodology and pedagogy. In addition to the Portfolio of Research and Innovation, over 50 research centres operate independently within RMIT's colleges and schools—as well as a large number of smaller research groups.

According to the QS World University Rankings, RMIT is ranked as a five star university in the areas of: research, employability, teaching, facilities, internationalisation, innovation, engagement, specialisation.[54]

In 2009, RMIT was ranked as the top entrepreneurial university in Australia (12th in the World)—according to the GSEA's Top Entrepreneurial Universities List,[55] and, in 2010, as the top advertising university of the decade in Australia (5th in the World)—according the YoungGuns International Awards.[56]

In 2011, RMIT was recognised by Australian Skeptics with a Bent Spoon Award for their teaching of Chinese, chiropractic, and energy medicines - all of which lack scientific rigour.[57] The prize was awarded during the national convention of Australian Skeptics in Sydney.

The City campus is a contiguous part of the Melbourne city centre's northern section. Most buildings are concentrated around six city blocks (in an area of roughly 720,000 square metres (7,800,000 sq ft)) north of the Hoddle Grid. It is bound by La Trobe Street to the south, Lygon Street and Russell Street to the east, Queensberry Street and Victoria Street to the north, Elizabeth Street and Swanston Street to the west. The densest area of the campus, east of Swanston Street, is sometimes referred to as the "RMIT Quarter" of the City.[67][68]

Bundoora:
The Bundoora campus was established in 1995.[10] It is located 18 km from the City campus in the outer northern suburb of Bundoora. The campus is divided into 'East' and 'West' by Plenty Road. In a contrast to the urban City campus, the Bundoora West campus is set amongst almost 400,000 square metres (4,300,000 sq ft) of parkland.[66][72]

Brunswick:
The Brunswick campus became a part of RMIT in 1999 as a dedicated site for its designTAFE schools.[10] It is located 6 km from the City campus in the inner northern suburb of Brunswick. Prior to its annexation by RMIT, it was the campus of the former Melbourne Institute of Textiles for nearly 50 years.[73]

Other sites:
RMIT's flight training programs are conducted from its site at the Royal Australian Air Force's historic Williams base.[74] It is located 20 km from the City campus in the outer south-western suburb of Point Cook. RAAF Williams is the world's oldest operating air force base and the birthplace of the Royal Australian Air Force.[75]

The University also has a regional research site in the rural town of Hamilton.[76] It is located 300 km north-west of the City campus in regional Victoria—just south of the Grampians National Park. The Potter Rural Community Research Centre at the site focuses on rural and regional issues in a global context.[77]

The present Ho Chi Minh City campus is located in the Phu My Hung area of the Saigon South development in District 7.[79] The first academic buildings on the large purpose-built campus opened in 2005.[13] In 2011, its recreation complex and residential centres opened.[13]

Hanoi:
The Hanoi campus was established in 2004. It was initially located in the Van Phuc Diplomatic Compound in the government precinct of the Ba Dinh District, Hanoi.[13] In 2007, it also acquired a building in the Dong Da District to accommodate rising student numbers.[13] It consolidated its two buildings in a newly built tower overlooking Ngoc Khanh Lake in the Ba Dinh District in 2010.[80]

University Library is the central libraries network of RMIT. It has five locations across RMIT's three Australian campuses.[82] Swanston Library is the largest in the network, and is located in Building 8 at the City campus.[83] Swanston Library is also reported to be amongst the top five libraries in all of Melbourne.[84] Other libraries in the network are the Brunswick Library, Bundoora East Library, Bundoora West Library and Carlton Library (the latter of which is also at the City campus).[82]

RMIT's City campus also benefits from its proximity to the State Library of Victoria—the central public reference library and the largest library in Melbourne.

Two libraries are located at RMIT's Vietnam campuses; Beanland Library and Hanoi Library.[88] The Beanland Library is the largest of the two libraries, and is located at the Ho Chi Minh City campus.[89]

Selected research of RMIT academics and postgraduate students can be accessed through the RMIT Research Repository—an open access database of peer-reviewed published articles, conference papers, books and chapters, etc.[90] Documents held by the RMIT Research Repository are also indexed by Google Scholar, National Library of Australia and WorldCat. As of March 2013, there are more than 19,000 records in the Repository.[91]

The University's subsidiary RMIT Publishing also owns and operates the Informit online library database, which consists of research from across Australia and the Asia-Pacific.[92][93]

The campus union RMIT Link operates the First Site Gallery at the City campus which focuses on emerging artists and is located beneath RMIT Gallery.[98][99] Link also manages the Artland program at the Brunswick campus.[100] Artland consists of 16 sites around the campus and Brunswick streets showcasing work of design students.[100]

RMIT Link is the University's campus union.[108] It exists to sponsor and promote social, cultural, educational, sporting and recreational programs and activities among the RMIT community, and to provide such facilities and services at RMIT's Australian campuses.[109] Link is separated into two divisions: Arts & Culture and Sports & Recreation. It is a controlled entity under the authority of RMIT's Council.[108][110]

Arts & Culture manages a number of extra-curricular arts collectives.[111] It also offers workshop and seminars as well as funding for arts initiatives,[112] and runs a free cinema program at the City and Bundoora campuses.[113]

RMIT's University Student Union (RUSU) is the independent body representing students enrolled at RMIT.[120] It was founded in 1944 by John Storey Jr. who was its inaugural president—and after whom Storey Hall at the City campus is also named.[5][121] RUSU's objective is to safeguard the interests and rights of students,[122] and to advance education, welfare, social life and cultural activities of students.[123] RUSU has a number of departments advocating various elements of student life. It also supports academic, cultural, political, spiritual and special interest clubs and societies run by students.[124]

RMIT operates several student accommodation facilities including: RMIT Village, Cambridge Court, College Square and Rooms International (on RMIT's City campus), all of which operate as self-catered apartment complexes. Twelve other student hostels are also operated by other providers.

Some of the traditional residential colleges of the nearby University of Melbourne also reserve places for RMIT students. The college fees include all catering, utilities, academic and pastoral support. The colleges affiliated with RMIT include:

Graduates of RMIT are considered to be some of the most employable in the world. In 2011, in a survey of over 5000 employers, the QS World University Rankings placed RMIT at 51st in the world for graduate employability.[127][128] As of 2011, the university has an alumni community of around 280,000 graduates in 130 countries.[129][130]